“We’ve had some fun with them — a prestige tag and Florida tag are oxymorons,” Johnson said.

It could be said that there’s a fine line between oxymorons and plain old morons, especially here in the Peach State. But this kind of banter isn’t limited to the comic geniuses in Atlanta – although it’s being inspired by the comic geniuses in Atlanta.

For an example of what I’m referring to, here’s what passes for political comedy in Tennessee.

… But Tennessee state Rep. Andy Berk said not so fast.

“My first thought was maybe we can settle this over a game of college football, but that would be unfair to the citizens of Georgia,” he said.

Tee frickin’ hee.

Stick to your day jobs, gents. There can’t be that many idiot voters to whom this crap is appealing.

It looks like the Big Ten Network is pulling down some decent money from Fox that’s being distributed to the conference schools. (h/t The Wizard of Odds)

… Neil Theobald, IU’s vice president and chief financial officer, and a Fox spokesman confirmed the Big Ten Network contract runs 20 years, with the money guaranteed to each member school throughout. That includes $6.12 million this academic year. IU officials say they have received two payments of $1.53 million each, with the remainder coming in March and June.

Six million a year ain’t exactly chump change. Still, there’s some grumbling, mainly over the fact that TV exposure is limited.

For fans of the Hoosiers, the situation is no different than when the network launched last August, with numerous fans being unable to watch the game on cable television. At least one IU trustee is losing patience.

“I’m very frustrated that this deal has not been done,” trustee Phil Eskew said. “We can’t keep going on like this.”

Eskew said he’s also concerned that a year and a half after the contract between the Big Ten Conference and Fox was announced, not enough people know the details. He said he believes nobody at IU has read it other than Adam Herbert, IU’s president in 2006. Eskew wonders if IU could get out of the deal if the cable issue isn’t resolved.

Silly man. Of course not. The school’s already spent the money!

… Theobald said because IU has already used the money to issue $45 million in bonds for athletic facilities, there won’t be any desire to pull out of the contract. School spokesman Larry MacIntyre agreed, saying that would be tantamount to pulling out of the Big Ten.

In any event, I’m sure the SEC is closely watching the development of the BTN. CBS distributed $43 million to the SEC in 2006 – just for football broadcast rights – under a contract in its twelfth year (scheduled to expire after this season). Most importantly, though, the SEC gets its games on CBS broadcast nationally, regardless of cable. Don’t think that doesn’t matter.

“CBS has been a terrific partner,” Slive said. “We’re the only league in the country that has a national network partner, and so every one of our games on CBS goes everywhere whether you have cable or don’t. If you look at the ABC distribution of so-called national games, they are primarily regional. CBS does our game — it goes everywhere. And I think that speaks to the strength of the SEC and its football when a major network can have its full football inventory be one conference.”

The SEC will leverage to the max in 2009. Whether the conference will actually go out and start its own network is anyone’s guess. But I have no doubt it’ll threaten to. What it won’t do is leave itself at the mercy of an outfit like Comcast.

Eh? Oh, sorry. It’s just that it doesn’t look like Georgia Tech will be able to schedule a spring football game this year. Why, you ask?

… With 58 scholarship players and the inevitable injuries you can expect in a spring, fielding two complete teams to go head-to-head could be a problem. 58 players – 44 offensive and defensive starters = a 14-player cushion, and when you break it down position by position there’s a high likelihood there will be somewhere (say, center, for instance) where there aren’t enough bodies to have a full-fledged game.

Time for a small dose of reality, Jacket fans. Your team has serious depth problems and runs an offense that requires multiple bodies at the running back and quarterback slots. Unless Tech’s got one of the greatest freshman classes ever assembled on the Flats coming in, things are likely to get a little dicey come November.

Quote Of The Day

“Being a student at Georgia and playing ball, I’ve definitely grown, widened my horizons and experienced things I never thought I would. I feel like I’ve grown on and off the field, and the university prepared me for that. I’ve done some awesome things and met some awesome people. I’ll definitely be back to finish my schoolwork, because that was a big priority for me and my family and weighed heavily on my decision. I know football won’t last forever. It’ll be great to come back and get that degree, so I can tell my kids about it one day.” — Roquan Smith, AJ-C, 3/7/18